USA > New Jersey > Memorials of Methodism in New Jersey : from the foundation of the first society in the state in 1770, to the completion of the first twenty years of its history > Part 11
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On the day of his execution, thousands of persons, it was computed, collected from all parts of the surround- ing country to witness the tragical event. The display of military, and the sounds of music that floated mourn- fully on the air, heightened the impressiveness and solem- nity of the scene. The condemned man in company with his religious advisers, Pedicord, Cromwell, and Budd, rode in the wagon which contained his coffin, to the place of execution. "The huge procession passed out of Burlington, over Ewling's bridge, to a place called 'Gallows Hill.' The wagon halted under the fatal tree, and the soldiers were arranged around the vi- cinity in a square. The dense mass of spectators pressed closer and closer to the object on which all eyes were now fixed. Molliner arose and gazed upon the crowd; his countenance seemed changed ; he spoke at some length, acknowledged his guilt, and begged the people to pray for him; then, closing his eyes, he sat down and appeared to be engaged in an agony of prayer.
" Rev. Mr. Pedicord, standing in the wagon beside the coffin, gave out a text, and preached a suitable ser- mon, which affected all hearts within hearing of his sweetly musical voice, whose melting tones seldom failed to draw tears from all eyes. The people wept and sobbed while they heard. After the sermon a prayer was offered by one of the other preachers. On standing up again,
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Molliner requested them to sing, and a hymn was sung. At the close Molliner was deeply exercised, clapping his hands exultingly, and exclaiming, 'I've found Him ! I've found Him ! Now I am ready.' He adjusted the rope to his neck, took leave of those around, who stepped down from the wagon, and then said again, 'I am ready; drive off!' The horse started, the wagon passed from beneath his feet, he swung round a few turns, settled, struggled once for a moment, then all was still. The spirit of the daring refugee, now an humble Christian, was in the presence of God."*
Mr. Ware gives an affecting illustration of the de- voutness and beauty of Pedicord's spirit, which is as follows: "Mr. Pedicord returned again to our village. I hastened to see him, and tell him all that was in my heart He shed tears over me, and prayed. I was dissolved in tears. He prayed again. My soul was filled with un- utterable delight. He now rejoiced over me as a son- 'an heir of God, and joint heir with Christ.'" Ware wrote to him acknowledging him as the instrument of his salvation. "A thousand blessings on the man who brought me this intelligence. On my bended knees I owned the doctrine true, and said, It was enough-I may be happy-Heaven may be mine, since Jesus tasted death for all, and wills them to be saved! But I am
* Raybold's Methodism in West Jersey.
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not myself; my hopes and fears are new. Oh! may I never lose this tenderness of heart. Yes, my friend, I am thy debtor. To me thou hast restored my Bible and my God. And shall I be ungrateful ? No. I will see thee and confess the whole."
As Ware was about entering the ministry, Pedicord wrote him a kind letter. Here is an extract :
".Dear Tommy,-Brother Asbury made me glad when he informed me you had consented to come down to the Peninsula in the character of a licentiate, to spend some time on the Dover circuit, and then come to me. You have kept, in faithful memory, my earnest advice to study deeply the sacred pages, therein to learn the sum of good, Heaven kindly, though conditionally, wills to man. This you have done, and it has eventuated as I hoped; you have learned that He who claims all souls as His, and wills them to be saved, does sometimes from the common walks of life, choose men who have learned of Ilim to be lowly in heart, and bids them go and invite the world to the great supper. The Lord is, at this time, carrying on a great and glorious work, chiefly by young men like your- self. Oh, come and share in the happy toil, and in the great reward ! Mark me, though seven winters have now passed over me, and much of the way dreary enough, yet God has been with me and kept me in the way I went, and often whispered, 'Thou art mine, and all I have Is
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thine.' He has, moreover, given me sons and daughters, too, born not of the flesh, but of God; and who can es- timate the joy I have in one destined, I hope, to fill my place in the itinerant ranks when I am gone! Who, then, will say that mine was not a happy lot ? 'Tis well you have made haste ; much more than I can express have I wished you in the ranks before mine eyes have closed in death and on all below.
" It is true, in becoming an itinerant you will have to sacrifice all means of acquiring property, all domestic ease and happiness, and must be content with food and raiment. Nor are the hardships and perils less appalling than those you have witnessed in our war for independ- ence ; for it is a fact known to you already, in part, that the professing world, with the clergy at their head, are in array against us. But thanks be to God ! we know Him, who both died, and rose, and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living, and in receiving our commissions have felt a courage commensurate (may I not say?) with that with which the disciples were inspired when Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ' All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, go ye,' &c. &c.
" It was to the whole bench of the apostles the charge was given, so they understood it, hence they all became itinerants ; why, then, is not the world evangelized? Are the clergy blameless in this matter ? So thought not
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Wesley, so thinks not Asbury, his coadjutor. The clergy have long since abandoned this apostolic plan; they have doubtless deemed it more than could be expected of them therein to copy the apostolic example.
" When Asbury pressed me to become an itinerant, I said, ' God had called me to preach, and wo be unto me if I preached not, but I had not conviction that he had called me to itinerate.' 'No conviction, my son,' said he to me sternly, ' that you should follow the directions of Him who commissioned you to preach ? Has the charge given to the disciples, Go and evangelize the world, been revoked? Is the world evangelized ?' He said no more. I looked at the world, it was not evangelized. I looked at the clergy, and thought of the rebut received from some of them who were thought the most pious, when smitten with penitential grief, and ardently desirous to know what I must do to be saved, and thought who hath said, 'The hireling careth not for the sheep, because he is a hireling.'
" The world must be evangelized; it should long since have been so, and would have been so, had all who pro- fessed to be ministers of Christ been such as were the first gospel preachers and professors; for who can contend with Him who is Lord of lords, and King of kings, when they that are with him in the character of ministers and members are called, and chosen, and faithful ? Here the
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drama ends not, but the time we think is near, even at the door. Nothing can kill the itinerant spirit which Wesley has inspired. It has lived through the revolution- ary war, and will live through all future time. Christen- dom will become more enlightened, will feel a divine im- pulse, and a way will be cast up, on which itinerants may swiftly move, and in sufficient numbers to teach all na- tions the commands of God."
Pedicord possessed, in an uncommon degree, the quali- ties of an orator. Physically, he was a noble type of manhood. His form was commanding, his countenance was indicative of intelligence and sensibility, and his voice was like the thrilling, melting murmurs of the harp. In addition to this, his spirit was pervaded by a depth of tender sympathy that flowed out in his words, and hence it is not surprising that almost immediately after he be- gan to speak, the moistened eyes of his auditors told how resistless was his power. " He possessed," says Ware, " the rare talent to touch and move his audience at once. I have seen the tear start and the head fall before he had uttered three sentences, which were gen- erally sententious. Nor did he raise expectations to disappoint -them. If he could not bind his audience with chains, he could draw them after him with a silken cord. Never was a man more tenderly beloved in our part of the country than he; and if the decision
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devolved on me I should say there was none like Pedi- cord. But he was my spiritual father."
In his "Heroes of Methodism," Mr. Wakeley has given a letter, addressed by Pedicord to a young lady, which is beautifully illustrative of the character of his mind and heart. It shows him to have possessed a mind clear in its perceptions, and possessed of much delicacy and refinement, and a heart adorned with the beauty of meekness, gentleness, and love. As it is probably, with the exception of that already given, the only production of his pen extant, its insertion here will not, it is hoped, be considered contrary to the scope of the present work. This letter, so sweet and beautiful in itself, is, in conse- quence of its having been written by Pedicord, invested with an almost hallowed interest.
"VIRGINIA, January 12th, 1783.
" MISS PATTY :- Your friendly letter came safe to hand a few days since. I have read it again and again, and was so happy as to catch the tender spirit in which it was written. It affords matter of real joy even to hear from my dear friends ; but to receive a letter con- taining an account of their spiritual welfare is cause of more abundant consolation. You are pleased to thank me for my former letter, and also express your approba- tion of the thoughts hinted in favor of early piety. I
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am more than ever persuaded of the propriety of them, though I feel myself very insufficient to give instruction to those who are surrounded with every hopeful and en- couraging circumstance. I take knowledge from your letter that you entertain low thoughts of yourself. Our souls prosper the most under the shade of the cross ; and it is well to go down the necessary steps into the valley of humiliation. When praying, as in the dust, our de- votion is in character, but, in the mean time, let us re- member, help is laid upon One that is mighty. ' Look unto me,' is His language; He blesses the broken in heart and comforts the contrite spirit. He is the strength of the weak, the overflowing fountain of all goodness, who delights in administering suitable comfort according to our various cases. Let faith (which is the eye of the soul) momently behold a reconciled God ; ever remembering that in striving to believe, and in the exer- cise of faith, it is obtained and increased: the se-
cret, inward, powerful effects of living faith are almost a mystery to those who feel them. Salvation by faith is what the Scripture strongly recommends. It is true, God is the author, Christ the object, and the heart the subject ; but, notwithstanding this, it has pleased our great Author to bestow this precious gift in proportion to our willingness to receive and improve it. Love, also, is the glorious spring of all outward and inward holi-
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ness. Happy for us when we feel this holy, heavenly, active principle operating, and sweetly attracting our willing hearts into all the graces and virtues of living religion. Hope ! oh, blooming hope! which constantly eyes the future promised inheritance ! Oh ! Patty, let these three graces be in lively exercise ! Indeed, I am at a loss to describe the many blessings that flow from a conviction of our being interested in the favor of the Lord. Those comforts and graces do not naturally be- long to man; it is fruit that grows not upon nature's trec. It follows that in order to abound in them, we must eye His will, who is the author and giver of them ; which no doubt calls for the mighty exertions of all our ransomed powers, carefully walking in, and constantly looking through all the means of Divine institution. So shall we sail as upon broad waters, and our feet stand in a wealthy place.
" I continue a son of affliction, but still fill up my ap- pointments. Remember me affectionately to your grand- mamma, who behaved to me as a mother, sister, Chris- tian, and friend.
" The blessed God bless you and keep you blooming for a blissful immortality. Yours, &c., " CALEB B. PEDICORD."
Pedicord was admitted by the Conference of 1777,
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and appointed to Frederick, Md. In 1778 his appoint- ment is not designated in the minutes. In 1779 he was sent to Delaware, in connection with Asbury, Garrett- son, and others. In 1780 he was again appointed to Delaware with Joseph Cromwell as preacher in charge. 1781, West Jersey; 1782, Sussex, Va .; 1783, Meck- lenburg, Va .; 1784, Baltimore, as preacher in charge with Thomas S. Chew and William Gill. Before the next Conference he ceased to labor and to live.
In describing Pedicord, a writer says, "There was one for whom Asbury looked in vain, one who had been his companion in many a long and dreary journey, one whose eloquent voice had often made the hearts of listen- ing thousands
' Thrill as if an angel spoke, Or Ariel's finger touched the string.'
Pedicord, the gentle spirited, the generous minded, the noble souled, the silver tongued Pedicord had fallen, had fallen in his opening glory and abundant promise. As- bury looked for him and he was not. The grave had closed over his body, and his spirit had passed to the land where only spirits so refined, so sensitive, so ethereal as his, find congenial sympathy and rest."
His is the first obituary sketch given in the minutes. It is exceedingly brief, but very expressive. As with a
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single stroke of the hand of a master artist it presents in bold relief a just outline of his beautiful character. " Caleb B. Pedicord,-a man of sorrows; and, like his Master, acquainted with grief ; but a man dead to the world, and much devoted to God." That is all. Is it not enough ?
An original character was JOSEPH CROMWELL, but a man of zeal, and power, and distinguished success. A son of thunder, he ranged through New Jersey, Dela- ware, Maryland, and Virginia, summoning the people to repentance on pain of being cast into the inextinguish- able flames of perdition. Multitudes heard his message and hastened their escape to Calvary, whither he uner- ringly directed them.
His superiority over most of his cotemporaries con- sisted chiefly, perhaps, in the strength of his natural en- dowments, his resolute and vehement earnestness, and his faithfulness in presenting the truth, urging it home upon the consciences of his hearers with a practical di- rectness which said, " Thou art the man." There was, too, a kind of magic about his speech-a something that penetrated and thrilled you, while it left a deep and vivid impression of the truth. His speech and his preaching were not with enticing words of man's wis- dom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and with power. The year before he was sent to New Jersey, Asbury
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says of him, "I thought it would be well for me to have a person with me always, and I think Cromwell is the man. If I should preach a systematic, dry sermon, he would pay the sinners off." Another of his cotempora- ries, Rev. T. Ware, says he preached "with an authority few could withstand. By his labors thousands of all classes and conditions in society" were brought to God and walked worthy of their professions.
Asbury speaks of a love-feast at which he was present in which Cromwell spoke. He says, "His words went through me as they have every time I have heard him. He is the only man I have heard in America with whose speaking I am never tired; I always admire his unaf- fected simplicity ; he is a prodigy-a man that cannot write or read well, yet, according to what I have heard, he is much like the English John Brown, or the Irish John Smith, or Beveridge's shepherd's boy ; I fear he will not stand or live long. The power of God attends him more or less in every place. He hardly ever opens his mouth in vain; some are generally cut to the heart, yet he himself is in the fire of temptation daily. Lord keep him every moment !"
But temptation, alas ! proved too powerful for him. Had the fears concerning his life, which Asbury ex- pressed in the above emphatic tribute to his power and usefulness been early realized, his grave would have been
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bedewed with the tears of thousands saved by his min- istry, whose grief would not have been embittered by the gloom which lingered over the scene of his depart- ure. Had he then fallen in the midst of his labors and his triumphs, his untarnished name, crowned with imper- ishable honors, would have gone down the generations of Methodism among those of its noblest sons and heroes. But he lived to furnish Methodism and the world with another mournful example of the fact that the good and the mighty may leap from their commanding altitude into depths of guilt and sorrow. And yet who can tell but his majestic spirit which unhappily faltered in its struggle with the flesh, may, through the abounding grace he had so successfully proclaimed to others, have risen from the scene of his humiliation to a throne of celestial glory ? But of this we can only tremblingly hope. No visible light, alas ! illumined his final hour.
After spending about sixteen years in the work, dur- ing which time he filled important appointments, includ- ing the cities of Philadelphia and Baltimore, and that of Presiding Elder, in 1793 he located. In a little more than eleven years after his location, Asbury re- cords his mournful end as follows : " After a long ab- sence I came once more to John Jacobs'. From him I heard the awful account of the awful end of Joseph Cromwell. He had walked backward, according to his
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own account; three days he lost in drunkenness ; three days he lay sick in darkness-no manifestations of God to his soul; and thus he died ! We can only hope that God had mercy on him. Compare this with what I have recorded of his labors and his faithfulness in another part of my Journal. Oh ! my soul, be warned ! Bro- ther Jacobs preached his funeral sermon, and gave a brief sketch of his life, his fall, and his death. His text was, 'Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon ;' how appropriate the choice !"
JAMES O. CROMWELL, a brother of Joseph, was ad- mitted on trial at the Conference of 1780, and appointed to Sussex, Md. In 1781 he was sent as preacher in charge to East Jersey. In 1782 we find him on the Fluvanna circuit, Va. This was a hard field of labor- the rides were long, and a large portion of the circuit was very mountainous. The opportunities for usefulness were not flattering, yet some additions were made to the societies. Cromwell labored hard and diligently in this rugged and unpromising field, but was frequently sub- jected to discouragement, and even dejection. In 1783 he was sent to Pittsylvania, Va .; in 1784 to Kent, Md. At the Christmas Conference, 1784, he was ordained elder, and appointed with Freeborn Garrettson to Nova Scotia. This was a trying field, but he labored in it with zeal and success. In 1786 he and Garrettson were
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" elders" in Nova Scotia. In 1787 he and two others were elders over a district that included a portion of the State of Maryland. From 1788 to 1791, three years, he was Presiding Elder in New Jersey, his district in- cluding the entire State. In 1792 he was appointed to Bethel circuit, N. J. In 1793 he located. It is said that he was a devout and laborious man, and a useful and powerful preacher.
HENRY METCALF was admitted at the Conference of 1781, and appointed to East Jersey. In 1782 he was sent to Sussex, Va. ; in 1783 to Pasquetank, N C. At the Conference of 1784 the question is asked for the first time, Who have died this year ? And the answer is, William Wright and Henry Metcalf; but no notice is given of them in the minutes except the bare mention of their names. Metcalf was considered an excellent and deeply devoted man, but he was a man of a sorrowful spirit and suffered under mental depression. With him the habit of devotion appeared to be a ruling passion, strong in death. When near his end, it is said, he rose from his bed, and bowed upon his knees, and while in that devout attitude his spirit ascended to God .*
* Lee's Hist. of Methodism, and Asbury's Journal.
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CHAPTER X.
PROGRESS OF THE WORK IN 1782.
THE Conference met at Ellis's preaching house, Va., on the 17th of April, 1782. Asbury says, "We amica- bly settled our business and closed our Conference. * We had a love-feast-the power of God was manifested in a most extraordinary manner-preachers and people wept, believed, loved, and obeyed." The minutes say the Conference adjourned to Baltimore the 21st of May. At this Conference East Jersey reported 282 members, and West Jersey 375. This was a gain for the State of 145 members during the ecclesiastical year 1781.
The appointments in New Jersey this year were, East Jersey, John Tunnell, Joseph Everett. West Jersey, Joshua Dudley, Richard Ivy. The work continued to advance during the year, so that an increase of nearly four hundred (371) was realized in the membership. On he 16th of September Asbury writes, "I think God vill do great things in the Jerseys: the prospect is 14
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pleasing East and West." He visited Burlington and Trenton this year. The latter town he found "in & great bustle with the Court, and the French troops." He preached to a large and serious congregation on the Syrophoenician woman. "Ah ! poor gospel-hardened Trenton !" he exclaims. "But a few have been converted of late." While making his tour in the State he was annoyed by persons who demanded his pass. In Ger- mantown a gentleman of the committee examined his, and those of the preachers stationed on the circuit. " He treated us with great politeness," he says, "and told us what the law required : brother Tunnell's pass was pronounced valid; but mine was not, because I had not the signature of the proper authorities in the coun- ties through which I had traveled. I pleaded ignorance of the necessity of this. Here appeared to be the se- cret-the mob had been after brother Everett with clubs, and it was supposed, under the connivance of their superiors ; they found, however, that he was qualified according to law: the work of God prospers, and, it is possible, this is the real cause of offence to unfriendly ministers." He speaks of preaching on Sabbath the 8th of September to a very gay congregation of four or five hundred persons, and says, "The priests of all de- nominations, Dutch and English, appear to be much alarmed at our success ; some oppose openly, others more
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secretly ; the Episcopal ministers are the most quiet ; and some of these are friendly."
Tunnell and Everett did not remain on the circuit only until November, when they were sent to the Phila- delphia circuit. Everett, in speaking of his appointment to East Jersey, says : "I was appointed to East Jersey with that man of God, John Tunnell, whom I loved as another self. We labored in sweet fellowship until No- vember; the Lord also owned his word through my weak instrumentality."* Woolman Hickson, George Mair, and Richard Ivy appear to have labored in East Jersey the latter part of this year.
About this year a society was formed by Benjamin Abbott, in Lower Penn's Neck, in the West Jersey cir- cuit. The class met in an old log-house, belonging to an aged man by the name of Swanson, who was the leader. Some of the first members were Wm. Bilder- back and wife, Catharine Casper, Elizabeth Dixon, and Sarah Bright. The manner in which Methodism was in- troduced there can be best given in Abbott's own lan- guage. He says, "One day as I was preaching, I. Hol- laday of Lower Penn's Neck, stopped to hear, and the word reached his heart; after sermon, he asked me if I would come and preach at his house : I asked him if I should give it out for the circuit preacher ; he said, Yes. I
* Arminian Magazine, (American,) vol. ii., 1790.
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did so, and after bidding the family farewell, an officer of the army being present, I took him by the hand, and said, 'God out of Christ is a consuming fire,-farewell !' and so we parted. God pursued him from the very door, and gave him no rest ; before twelve o'clock that night he was out of bed on the floor at prayer. In about two months his soul was set at liberty, and he is a member of our Church at the present period.
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